Be it a Wizard Classic, Eccentric Mentor, Evil Sorcerer, even a bratty Child Mage, the Archmage is the apex of Magical Learning and/or power. This comes to the point of being practically a demigod (or more) in the world they are portrayed in, able to create miracles as if a minor but annoying chore, discover a world-shaking truth, or even brawl with The Devil himself.

The term "Archmage" (with or without hyphen) is a neologism derived from the name of the character Archimago in the renaissance poem The Faerie Queene. "Archimage" was occasionally used as an alternate spelling for the character's name, and Percy Bysshe Shelley later used this form as a synonym for "wizard" in his own poems. The modern form of the word, both in spelling and meaning, was coined a few centuries later by Ursula K. Le Guin in her novel A Wizard of Earthsea, where it referred to the leader of a college of magicians. As an analogy, the Archmage is to a normal wizard as the Surgeon General is to a resident physician.

An Archmage character, in the grand scheme of most stories, is either given their title via their country, becoming the head of that region's magical study and schooling (in which case he may also be the Court Mage for the ruler), or even by the majority of magicians in the world, to the point of being the ruler of a Magocracy. Sometimes it's even a divinely given title. If the local god of magic says you're the best and/or the chosen one, you're practically set to become an Archmage without being threatened by the same church that said god rules over. More than likely that church will become an avid supporter and bring its new leader to a highly sought-after position of power.

Granted, not all Archmages are centered within society, and certainly not all are good. An Archmage could very well become isolated from the world within a massive tower fortress in hope of quiet study in creating the flux capacitor they need for a time machine. Neither is the Archmage restricted to being human, or even the dominant race of the society in question; in fantasy, the Archmage could be a freakin' owl that can cast Meteor and Doom spells.

Most Archmages are depicted as old and wise wizards, but sometimes characters become Archmages without even being called one, simply by being the only magician (or one of the only magicians) in the world, maybe even because said-world doesn't have such a title as Archmage. Nevertheless, the Archmage is intelligent and worldly in knowledge and wisdom, and is considered an epic power within the grand scheme of things.

A character need not actually bear the title "Archmage" to qualify for this trope, though many do. The defining trait is that they are recognized in-universe as representing the pinnacle of magical power.

Note: Arguably an Archmage can also be merely the leader in a specific form of magic, but this may or may not change the title to reflect the school of magic in question (e.g. Archevoker, Archabjurer, etc, etc). Also, in some cases an Archmage that becomes a sentient undead is considered an Archlich.

Examples:

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Anime and Manga

In Rave Master, Sieg Hart has the title of being an archmage. He is also an elemental master because he is not aligned to any single element and can use them all, even time! But the funny thing is, Sieg ranks as third strongest mage in the series, right behind Haja the Infinite, a sorcerer with a never ending supply of mana. And even higher is Haja's master, Shakuma.

Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg. He is a centuries old vampire mage with the ability to travel between realities, and he is far and away the most powerful mage in the series. At the height of his power, he punched outBrunestud of the Crimson Moon by transporting him onto an alternate, uninhabited Earth, and then dropped the moon on him. He's also one of only five practitioners of "True Magic", or magic that breaks all laws of magecraft because it's just that powerful. The Second Magic (aforementioned jumping between realities) is his domain.

Fate/Grand Order has the most powerful mage in history being King Solomon of Israel, who invented the entire practice of magecraft when he realized that True Magic was dying out along with the Age of Gods, forcing him to come up with an alternative if humanity was to continue wielding any magic at all. He is famous for having controlled the 72 demons of the Ars Goetia as familiars, noted to have been the most powerful familiars a human has ever commanded. As a Servant, he's naturally summoned as a Caster, and is in fact the Grand Caster, meaning he's the most powerful Caster class Heroic Spirit in existence.

The Lifemaker in Mahou Sensei Negima!, who is not only immortal and at least 2,600 years old, but has created an entire world and nearly a billion living beings to inhabit it (hence his title). He has also been shown as capable of effortlessly Curb Stomping even the most powerful combat mages in the setting, with only the most powerful mage alive able to successfully stand against him in battle.

In sequel series UQ Holder!, Fate Averruncus is recognized as the single most powerful mage in the Solar System.

In A Certain Magical Index, a Majin (Magic God) is a magician who has reached a level where they can do practically anything with magic. The few known Majins are among the most powerful beings in the setting. However, 'pure' Majins have a problem - due to encompassing all possibilities, they have an equal chance of success and failure - something which Majin Othinus is trying to fix. 'Impure' Majins stopped their growth before this point and lack the 50/50 downside but are weaker as a result, though they are still powerful enough to easily take out Level 5 espers, as Ollerus has shown. The true GREMLIN is an entire organization of Majins from all of the world's religions.

Clow Reed. Though we get some hints of his power in Cardcaptor Sakura, it really gets hammered home in Tsubasa -RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE- (it's the same character in both series), where we learn that he caused the entire, extremely convoluted plot to happen because he accidentally lost control of his powers for a moment. To his credit, he spent the rest of his life undoing that mistake and setting things up so that everything would be fixed. The guy has multiverse-spanning Reality Warper levels of power and his clairvoyance is so powerful he almost seems omniscient. Indeed, he also set up the entire plot of Cardcaptor Sakura to ensure that his reincarnation did not have the same insane level of power, as it had left him unable to ever live a normal life.

In the Lyrical Nanoha series, there are only two characters in the entire series to have attained an SS mage rank, and Hayate only has that kind of power because she had her head plugged into a sentient magical tome that downloaded its entire store of centuries worth of accumulated spell knowledge directly into her mind. Precia, on the other hand, earned her rank the hard way, and was a brilliant magical researcher in her prime. By the time of the series, she's lost most of her sanity and is practically on her deathbed, but she's still capable of spells powerful enough to disable a spaceship from another dimension, effortlessly incapacitate an entire squad of TSAB mages, and summon up an army of Mecha-Mooks. On the historical scale, the greatest combat mage of all times is believed to be Olivie Sägebrecht, the Last Sankt Kaiser of the Belkan Empire, who secured that title shortly before her death by defeating her lifelong rival Claus Ingvalt (himself a One-Man Army) in the final battle of the Belkan wars.

In Fairy Tail, most wizards specialize in one or two types of magic at most. There are a few exceptions, and they are some of the strongest mages in the series:

Fairy Tail guild master Makarov can turn himself into a giant and wields powerful white magic. His most powerful spell, Fairy Law, immediately destroys anyone he considers an enemy.

His predecessor, Precht Gaeblog, taught Makarov a lot of what he knows about magic. He later expanded his knowledge to include various "Lost Magics" and spells from the Book of Zeref. Demon summoning, shadow magic, light magic in the forms of chains and his own variant of Fairy Law, are all his to command.

Precht's predecessor, Mavis Verimillion, was Fairy Tail's first guildmaster. Fairy Tail Zero reveals that she originally only knew how to conjure illusions. Though she is long dead now (and a ghost) except not quite either, the incredibly powerful spells she left behind prove that she had become a true master wizard.

Black Wizard Zeref, the most powerful and feared wizard who ever lived. The books he left behind contain spells that contain knowledge of, among other things, demon summoning and time travel. He was also a master of Living Magic and Death Magic. He was also the one who trained Mavis, Precht, and Warrod into mages.

Warrod Sequen also counts. In-universe, he's part of a group of four wizards considered to be the true pinnacle of magic, even beyond the likes of Makarov.

Ishgal's rival nation the Alveraz Empire has the Spriggan 12. The Praetorian Guard of Emperor Spriggan, these elite wizards are all on par with the strongest of Ishgal's Four Gods, God Serena, who left Ishgal to join their ranks. They were all handpicked by Emperor Spriggan aka Zeref, someone who would obviously be a good judge of magical ability.

One of the Spriggan 12 is "Wizard King" August, who is said to have mastered all forms of magic, surpassing even the aforementioned Black Wizard Zeref in terms of versatility. Specifically, his magic is the ability to copy any Caster-type magic used against him and nullify it. This includes magic on the level of Gildarts' Crush magic and Cana's Fairy Glitter, one of the strongest magic spells in the series. It makes sense, however, since he is Zeref and Mavis's biological son.

God Serena himself can also be considered The Archmage amongst Dragon Slayers due to possessing eight Dragon Lacrima in his body to give him eight different elements, of which include Earth, Fire, Water and Wind Dragon Slayer Magic, with which he can stomp his fellow Gods of Ishgal.

Irene Belserion is considered a mage on equal footing with August, who by all rights, is an absolute monster that has Makarov regard him with sheer awe and terror. Among her two major feats include shrinking the entire landmass of Fiore to 1/20th of its size, and randomly teleporting all of Fiore's citizens and Alvarez soldiers all across the land (except for Zeref, where he was teleported right to Fairy Tail's doorstep). It is for these feats of hers that she is all but outright stated as the strongest woman in the entire setting. It also turns out she's the one who invented Dragon Slayer Magic on account of being four hundred years old.

Seven Deadly Sins has Merlin, but unlike the typical old man form, this one takes the form of a Lady of Black Magic in very revealing clothes. Known also as the Crimson Boar, she is one of the titular sins, bearing the Sin of Gluttony for her insatiable appetite for knowledge. Her magical powers include Absolute Cancel which can end any spell, mastery of teleportation magic to the point she will send her enemies on teleporting from one unfortunate situation to another in seconds, creating powerful fire and ice magic which will last for all time or until she ends the spell, and lastly she has halted her own body from moving forward in time. Even her own allies, when hearing just how powerful she is, lampshade the game breaking nature of her powers.

Momonga of Overlord qualifies. For most magic casters, they are able to learn 300 spells, which is already a huge amount. But because of a skill he has known as Dark Wisdom that allows him to steal spells from corpses, he has at least 700 spells to choose from, and he's memorized them all. The character chart for him even lists his mana level as exceeding the limits of tbe scale! He may not have the most offensive power, but he has the versatility to deal with nearly anything.

Ulbert Alain Odle is an even better example. He was a member of a special class that very few could attain known as World Disaster, which granted the strongest offensive capabilities in Yggdrasil.

Comic Books

In the DC Universe, The Archmage was a being of magic imprisoned at the heart of Zerox, the Sorcerer's World.

These things vary in comic books with the tendency for characters to gain or lose power through plot or depending on the writer, but the wizard Shazam prior to his death at the hands of The Spectre was the most powerful magician in the DC universe. Feats include chaining the seven deadly sins and bestowing godlike powers on a succession of champions.

Doctor Strange, the Sorcerer Supreme of the Marvel Universe, is more or less the designated Archmage of Earth (the title comes with a power boost but a lot of responsibility). The Ancient One, his tutor, was an Old Master at their first meeting (after six hundred years of being the former Archmage).

Simon Magus was a European magician who came to Astro City in The '70s because he foresaw a time of great strife centered on the city. He helped exorcise the spirit of vengeance known as the Blue Knight and warned about The Continuum's judgement of Earth. After a great spell, he was transformed into the Green Man.

Magus' assistant, Grimoire, became a sorceress in The '80s after Magus disappeared. She appeared during the Rise of Kerresh the Devastator, and wrote a tell-all book about her relationship with Magus.

Currently, the Silver Adept is considered the most powerful magician of the forces of light in the Astro City cosmology. However, this means there are a lot of mystical matters that need her attention, keeping her busy enough to require a personal assistant.

Methraton is the "ultimate archmage" who approaches the level of power of a Physical God, though he specifically denies being one.

Haazheel Thorn is the leader of a whole army of dark mages, and is the most powerful one of them all.

Fan Works

The Life and Times of a Winning Pony: In The Lunar Rebellion, together with acting as Celestia’s vizier, this is Sunbeam’s official position as the Archmagus of Canterlot, tasked with overseeing Canterlot’s magical academy and overseeing the magic users in and around Canterlot. There are also four other Archmagi overseeing the western, northern, eastern and southern portions of Unicornia, and while all five are technically equals the Archmagus of Canterlot is far and away the most influential, and the de facto leader of Unicornia’s magic orders. As the magi are noted to be one of the few organizations in Unicornia to care about one's skill over what family and rank they were born into, this comes with a dose of Asskicking Equals Authority, and the archmagi are some of the, if not the, most powerful magic-users among ponykind.

Yoda and Palpatine in Star Wars are the respective heads of the Jedi and Sith Orders, two opposed philosophies for harnessing the mystical power of the Force, and are quite easily the two most powerful Force-users alive by the time of the movies.

Literature

The evil sorcerer in Edmund Spenser's The Faerie Queene is named Archimago. His name was a combination of the Latin words arch (meaning "first") and imago (meaning "finalized form"), thus literally "first and final form", a subtle reference to Alpha and Omega, one of the titles of the Judeo-Christian God. Many scholars agree that, this being an allegory, the name is a clever tip-off to the fact that the character embodies religious hypocrisy. The term "archmage" is a later bastardization of the name, first by Shelley, and eventually by Le Guin who gave the name its present day spelling and connotations.

The Trope Namer is the Archmage Nemmerle in A Wizard of Earthsea. In this instance, the term is used to describe the head of a college of wizards, a primus inter pares or "first among peers."

The first book also notes that Ged will one day become Archmage, and he achieves this by the third book in the series, The Farthest Shore.

Saruman in J. R. R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings novels is an archmage, though he is never referred to by that title; however, as the White Wizard at the head of the order of wizards (as Gandalf describes him), he seems to occupy the place of an archmage in Middle-earth.

Gandalf eventually supplants him after being brought back to life with a power boost and beating Saruman in a battle of wills. Before the confrontation he had being fulfilling much of the role anyway; advising rulers, shepherding the heroes and watching the Big Bad while Samuran was off playing The Starscream to his new master.

In Barbara Hambly's writings, the fantasy worlds of both the Darwath series and The Windrose Chronicles feature archmages, the leaders of the wizards of those worlds. In the Windrose Chronicles, the archmage's authority magically moves to another wizard on the death of the archmage.

Many characters in the world of Harry Potter may be considered archmagi:

Lord Voldemort/ Tom Riddle: an acknowledged master of magic who was eventually foiled by ignoring certain magic he deemed unimportant. He was also able to control people through magical and mundane means.

Albus Dumbledore, the latter bearing the title of, among others, Grand Sorcerer, Supreme Mugwump, and Chief Warlock. He is also said to be the only person Voldemort fears and even as a teenager was using magic in a way people had never seen before.

Historically Gellert Grindelwald was one, at least prior to his defeat by Dumbledore, as were the Four Founders of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

The Minister for Magic could be considered one as the head of the wizard government, although in practice he's usually chosen for political reasons rather than supreme magical knowledge.

In the Korean fantasy novel Dragon Raja Handrake is described as an Archmage who successfully defeated Dragon Lord in the War of the Glorious Seven Weeks. Regarded by all who live in the world of Dragon Raja as the most powerful wizard of all time, he is reputed to be the only wizard who mastered Class Nine of magic.

There are several characters, good and evil, throughout the history of Dragonlance who could rightly bear this title:

Far and away the most notable (and infamous) are Fistandantilus and his student/victim/killer/reincarnation (it's complicated) Raistlin.

Par-Salian, as the head of the council of wizards and master of the Tower of High Sorcery at Wayreth would probably also merit this title, although he was certainly not as powerful as Fistandantilus.

Both the Disciples of Aldur and Torak from The Belgariad all count, notably Belgarath, Beldin, and Polgara (Aldur) and Ctuchik and Zedar (Torak. Torak's third Disciple, Urvon, was a somewhat powerful sorcerer, but seems to have been more of an arch-butt kisser).

Among the lot, Belgarath is the best candidate for a specific archmage, as he was the first disciple of Aldur, and probably the first disciple of any god, since Torak only started taking disciples as a copycat move. This gives him seniority over the other disciples of Aldur; however, he's not necessarily wiser or more powerful than any of them. If he has an advantage, it's that he possesses a mix of pragmatism and determination that enables him to face any specific task, no matter how difficult or morally abhorrent.

From The Death Gate Cycle, Samah and Lord Xar are the archmage rulers of the Sartan and Patryn races (both examples of a Witch Species) respectively. Alfred probably counts too, since his magic rates him the title of "Serpent Mage", a high honorific among the Sartan, though he's very uncomfortable with his power and has no desire to lord it over lesser mages. There are also the mysteriarchs, who are archmages compared to other human wizards, but are far less powerful than any of the above—the most powerful mysteriarch is said to be about even with a very weak Sartan, and Patryn Anti-Hero Haplo is completely confident in his ability to take the man in a duel if it comes to that (it doesn't).

In The Dresden Files any Wizard of the White Council is already considered to have a high level of magical ability. Any wizard who has reached a "respectable" age of several centuries might simply make this trope a logical progression. Specific examples include:

The Senior Council, the seven wizards who form the leadership of the Council. Standing together they are equivalent to an army. Individual members are no slouches either. Causing a Colony Drop and volcanic events, more than once. Beating a shapeshifting millenia old Skinwalker at its own game. That sort of thing.

Being the Merlin, the head of the council, is not a position one acquires by collecting bottlecaps. Arthur Langtry, the current one, specializes in defensive magic. He, along with the Gatekeeper, once, on the spot, crafted a ward capable of standing off an entire court of powerful vampires in the NeverNever, meaning he had no threshold to bind the ward to, making it a lot weaker. He later creates a ward to contain a malicious non-corporeal entity from outside reality, formulates a battle-plan, adds 3D visual aids and telepathically communicates it to the 200 or so other wizards in the room. In three seconds. In pitch dark. Without losing his cool for an instant.

Merlin, the original. Described as a "wizard Superman" and a folkloric hero that achieved feats other wizards consider impossible. While it's uncertain how much is true he is known to have traveled through time to create the island of Demonreach, at the same time at multiple points in time. Somehow. The Demonreach is a prison built to contain beings of literally godly power so massive it is better to blow up the Midwest just to slow them down in escaping. It's described as being an internal combustion engine to Harry's wooden axles. We can take that reputation as pretty on point.

The Archive, a little girl who knows absolutely everything that the human race has ever written down, or currently typed. She's been shown as powerful enough to hold off fallen angels, literally with one hand, using only the latent magic present in her 12 year-old body.

Heinrich Kemmler is a dangerous warlock and necromancer who had to be hunted by the White Council. The entire Council. He was killed seven times over the years, with the final one being the one to finally stick. His most well known infamy was no less than World War I, though it took him several decades to get things up and running. When they killed him for good, it took the Senior Council neutralizing his magical powers and other wizards attacking him with more mundane things like flamethrowers. He also created a means to turn a mortal into an immortal being.

The Amyrlin Seat is the political head of the Aes Sedai, the most powerful association of magic-users in the world as of the time of the books. She (and it's always a she, as male magic use comes with a heaping helping of madness) is nearly always an incredibly accomplished and powerful magic-user in her own right as well, since Aes Sedai authority derives from strength with the Power.

Rand is this in title as early as his founding of the Black Tower; he becomes it in fact after merging with the memories of his 400-year-old past self, becoming easily the most powerful and knowledgeable magic-user in the world and not far from a Physical God.

Moridin / Ishamael is the evil equivalent, being at least as accomplished in the One Power as any other magic-user good or evil, and far more accomplished in the True Power, which is so addicting and destructive that even the most evil of practitioners will use it only if they have absolutely no other option.

Sethra Lavode is considered the most powerful sorcerer in the Empire and is known for performing miracles that have shaped history; according to Vlad she's forgotten more about sorcery in her 200,000-year lifespan than anyone else will ever learn. She's also sort of an arch-vampire who turned down an offer of godhood.

In-universe, the title of Wizard is awarded to those who can synthesize elements of Eastern witchcraft, Imperial Sorcery, and Elder Sorcery to do things that would be impossible for an individual discipline. Such people tend to be recruited when the gods need a heavy hitter.

In Discworld, the Archchancellor of Unseen University is the head of all organized magic and in theory the most powerful wizard on the Disc. In practice, given wizards' penchant for killing their immediate superiors, the Archchancellor was mostly just the wizard best at murdering and not getting murdered. This stopped with the stubbornly unkillable Archchancellor Ridcully, and while he seems to be powerful whether or not he's the most powerful wizard is a moot point, since the point of organized magic is to not use it as much as possible.

Discworld also had a Sourceror, a source of raw magic. He was able to, with much effort, literally imprison all of the gods on the Disc in a pearl. Plus his mere presence dramatically boosted the powers of every other wizard.

Elminster is basically the definition of this. He's a wizard so absurdly powerful that he is frequently accused of being a Mary Sue.

Though the setting also contains several wizards with even more power than him. The Simbul is quoted as having more raw power (albeit not experience), Larloch and Ioulaum vastly outclass him (noted below under Tabletop Games), and Telamont Tanthul of Shade is also around (one of the last living Netherese Archwizards), among others. Elminster is more dangerous because of the networks of allies and helpers that he's managed to construct over the years rather than just his sheer power, including the Seven Sisters, the Harpers and various other organisations that he had a hand in creating and manipulating (while many evil archmages are busy manipulating right back at him in what frequently seems to result in a Gambit Pileup), potentially qualifying him as a Big Good.

The wise Archmage Ignacius Cooper in Nick Perumov's so far English translation-lacking Keeper of the Swords series. Subverted in the end when instead of a wise patron he is shown to be spiteful, manipulative and just evil.

The Prisoner who had spent centuries in a room under the temple of the Cold Flame is even more qualified. He turns out to be Merlin, head of the Council of True Magi generation, creator and ruler of the Avalon island. He has been imprisoned by Chaos.

Marcia Overstand in the Septimus Heap series, where the title is known as ExtraOrdinary Wizard. It's worth noting that while her political power is unparalleled, her actual magical power may be in question. She's also a Hot-BloodedTsundere.

Numair Salmalin in the Tortall Universe is often referred to as the "most-powerful mage in Tortall" and is likely the most powerful mage in the world. What's more, he does not fit the old-guy archetype - he's in his late twenties/early thirties and is extremely handsome.

Possibly subverted in Juliet McKenna's Tales of Einarinn. Archmage is the title given to the leader of the Magocracy. However, the Archmage openly admits that actual wizardry is the least important part of the job compared to politics or being a Manipulative Bastard in general, is rarely shown using magic, and is described as a remarkably ordinary magic user with several other characters being shown to be much more powerful than him, some of whom were passed up for the position.

Zeddicus Z'ull Zorrander and Darken Rahl of the Sword of Truth series both count, though Darken Rahl had a significant leg up on Zedd because he sold his soul to the Keeper for Subtractive Magic. Notably, Zedd wouldn't have had much standing at all in the presence of the wizards 3000 years before, and Rahl would've been just second-rate. Much later in the series, Richard becomes this, in addition to the Seeker, a Mud Man, Lord Rahl, a wizard, and many other impossible jobs that he asks not to have in the first book.

Nathan and Ann from the Palace of the Prophets. Which is saying something, since most of its inhabitants have been there for hundreds of years. Nicci is even stronger, and about as powerful as Darken Rahl (unusual, as sorceresses are almost invariably only a shadow of wizards). That said, she and the other Sisters of the Dark have been stealing wizards' Han and making deals with the Keeper.

War Wizards were this 3000 years ago. Special mention goes to Alric Rahl, Joseph Ander, and several others.

In the Krondor series, Macros the Black is the archmage at the beginning of the books. His function eventually gets taken over by Pug / Milamber.

From the Heralds of Valdemar series, the most prominent example is Vanyel Ashkevron, the titular Last Herald Mage. In the ages-ago prequels, Urtho and Ma'ar also qualify.

Chrestomanci, in the Diana Wynne Jones series of that name, is a title equivalent to Archmage. It's technically a government job title, but is only given to one of the most powerful enchanters in the multiverse, chosen and trained by the previous Chrestomanci.

In the Schooled In Magic series, Void is called a Lone Power, a wizard of such great power that he has no allegiances to any house, council, guild, or kingdom. It is suggested that there are other Lone Powers, but it is also clear that even a Lone Power isn't as powerful as a necromancer (who are far less talented with their magic because they rely on their power alone).

Archmaester Marwyn can be considered to be the archmage of Westeros since he's the only person really knowledgeable about magic on the whole continent. Since real, working magic is seen as a thing of the past and has not been witnessed by anyone for centuries, he is viewed as an eccentric and almost crazy man.

As of A Dance With Dragons, the Three-Eyed Crow, aka Bloodraven, also qualifies. He's the last (human) Greenseer, with powers that make an "ordinary" warg look like a toddler on a tricycle next to an Ace Pilot in an F-15.

Night Watch has a magical ranking system from 7 (lowest) to 1 (strongest). There is, however, an Up to 11 level called Mage Beyond Classification/Categorization (i.e. stronger than level 1). These mages are usually centuries (if not millennia) old and spend their time playing Gambit Roulettes, as engaging in open combat is strictly forbidden by the Treaty. The most prominent examples are Geser, the head of the Moscow Night Watch, and Zabulon, the head of the Moscow Day Watch. In Last Watch, Merlin is revealed to have been a mage with unlimited potential, called an Absolute or Zero-level Other. There's also Olga, Geser's lover and faithful companion, who is a Great enchantress at least a few centuries old, and Arina, a Great witch who doesn't ally with either Watch. Several others are shown in different novels, such as Thomas/Foma Lermont, a good friend of Geser's from Scotland, and Taviscaron, a good friend of Zabulon's from Kiev. Svetlana and Anton are nominally Beyond Classification in terms of pure power and potential but are too young and inexperienced to be considered true to this trope. However, Svetlana is able to defeat Arina in a duel, although she was in her Mama Bear mode.

Dworkin clearly holds that position in The Chronicles of Amber. He created the Pattern and is clearly the ultimate authority about the nature of Shadows, the Jewel of Judgement, the Trumps, the Pattern, and all Pattern-related powers. He is also more than a bit mad.

In Sergey Lukyanenko and Nick Perumov's Wrong Time for Dragons, the leaders of the four Elemental clans are the most experienced practitioners of their respective Elemental magic. While they're not the only mages of the first rank, they combine strength, power, experience, and intelligence to fit this trope. Ritor is the leader of the Air Clan and is widely considered to be the most powerful mage in the Middle World. He is also a former Dragonslayer, responsible for throwing off the tyrannical rule of the Winged Masters. His counterpart in the Water Clan is Torn, a ruthless, scheming mage, who, nevertheless, also wants to protect the Middle World. The leader of the Earth Clan, Anjey, is powerful and smart but also lazy (and a pedophile). The former leader of the Fire Clan, Navajo, also fits this trope, but he is slain by an ambush set up by Torn along with many other experienced Fire mages, leaving the Fire Clan in a severely weakened position.

A special mention goes to Loy Iver, the leader of the Cat Clan. While Totem clans are considerably weaker than Elemental clans, Loy Iver is still considered to be a first rank mage. She is a Femme Fatale Spy who uses her considerable political and seductive skills, augmented by magic, to keep her clan on an equal footing with the four Elemental clans. She is also a master of Stealth Hi/Bye and several powerful cat-like combat spells.

In Terry Brooks' Shannara series, the title of Ard Rhys, or High Druid, is given to the leader of the Druid Order. Typically the person who holds this position is one of the oldest, wisest, and most powerful members of the Order. Grianne Ohmsford, Khyber Elessedil, and Aphenglow Elessedil are all former protagonists who have held the post at one point or another, usually graduating to Big Good status in the process. One could make a case that, prior to High Druid of Shannara (when the order was reestablished) both Allanon and Walker Boh held this position, as they were the both the only Druids around, and the most powerful magic users on the planet at the time.

In The Balanced Sword, Archmage Idinus, the most powerful wizard ever to live, who has ruled the second-largest nation in the world as an iron-clad theocracy for thousands of years.

Villains by Necessity: Mizzamir, who even has this as his title. He is the most powerful wizard in the world left, and the only surviving Hero left from the Victory of Good against Evil (at least before Sir Pryse is revealed as still alive).

Land of Oz: Ozians use "Witch" or "Wizard" to describe these. When King Pastorius died, leaving infant Ozma as the heir, the four most powerful (Glinda of the South, Locasta/Tattypoo of the North, and the East and West witches) were fighting for control. A Con ArtistMagnificent Bastard named Oscar Diggs lands in the middle of this, and bluffs his way into becoming the titular Wizard of Oz, forcing the four into an Enforced Cold War. The scam works great for about fifteen years, and then some tornado drops a house on the East Witch and the unwitting occupant seeks out the "Wizard's" help to get home.

In The Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign, summoners who perform great deeds receive Awards (essentially marks carved into their souls by one of the setting's major gods). A high number of Awards brings prestige, and those with a thousand or more are seen as superhuman monsters. Examples include:

Elvast Toydream (Award 1000), who never loses a single fight on-screen, and is only killed by a surprise attack.

Humanism (Award 2799), who's all the more amazing due to being around ten years old.

In the BBC Merlin (2008), Nimueh was one, as the High Priestess of the Old Religion. At least until Merlin fried her. Apparently Morgause became the next High Priestess, and now apparently Morgana's filled the role, based on events in season 4. She and Merlin are neck and neck for 'most powerful magical person in the world'. As of the Grand Finale, Merlin has taken his traditional place as the undisputed greatest sorcerer of all time.

Merlin from Arthurian Legend can be considered an Archmage, depending on the version of the tale in question.

Abe no Semei is pretty much the Merlin of the East and could be considered an Archmage, not only was he regarded by all other Onmyodo as the pinnacle of magic, but also by his ruler.

Tabletop Games

In the original Advanced Dungeons & Dragons game, "Archmage" was a remnant of a time when specific levels in a character class had a name associated with them. In this case an "Archmage" was a member of the Magic-User class who had reached 18th level and could potentially cast 9th level spells (the highest available at the time). Other classes had similar naming systems (e.g. "Patriarch", "Lord", "Hierophant", etc.). Although the level names did not carry over into 2nd Edition generally, the tradition of wizards of 18th level or higher being called "Archmages" stuck. Then, from Third Edition and onward it became the name of a prestige class (documented in the 3rd edition Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting). This prestige class was updated in 3.5 and included as a stock PrC in the Dungeon Master's Guide from the core rulebooks. Their powers allow them to perform feats of magic available to few others (imagine being able to cast the spell fireball without having to worry about friendly fire ever again), but at the cost of some of their spells. The class was updated again in 4th Edition, as an epic destiny available to characters over 20th level. Now focused on reusing spells and using them more often, archmages can also exist as an arcane spirit. At 30th level, they are said to retreat into seclusion to study magic, eventually merging with the singular Demispell.

In Forgotten Realms "archmage" was an old honorific for people who obviously better at arcane arts than the majority of wizards. Elminster Aumar, Sage of Shadowdale, and Chosen of Mystra (the goddess of magic) definitely is an archmage. But then, Maskar Wands is one too.

Sometimes, it was used as a formal title: e.g. Gromphe Beanre is "the Archmage of Menzoberranzan", effectively the most powerful arcane caster and headmaster of the mage school in the largest city of drow. In Halruaa it's synonymous with "Elder"—a high-ranked wizard who gets to own a skyship (not all "Elders" are old). Netherese arcanists earned the title of "archwizard" by creating a floating island, to found a city on top and rule it.

Szass Tam is the leader of the Red Wizards and in terms of his game stats is definitely more powerful than Elminster. Halaster Blackcloak is another example.

Then there's the almighty Larloch, which Word of God describes as a 46th level lich who has had over a thousand years to construct personal defense spells, cannot be touched by a spell unless he chooses to be, and personally commands a hive mind of sixty (at least) other liches, all of whom are bound with him as their directing agent.

And on top of that there is Ioulaum, who has perhaps slightly less magic than Larloch, but who makes up for it by having transformed himself into an undead Elder Brain commanding a city of undead Mind Flayer Liches.

The Realms have a lot of guys like this, actually. The Simbul (aka Witch-Queen of Aglarond), also one of the Chosen of Mystra, is one of Elminster's allies and occasionally lover, and as far as game stats go, even more powerful than he is. Other powerful wizards of note in the Realms include Manshoon, the founder of the Zhentarim, Laeral Silverhand of Waterdeep, and the Seven Sisters (of which the Simbul is a member). (In short, powerful wizards seem to be everywhere in the Realms.)

Greyhawk is no slouch either. Mordenkainen is probably the straightest example, being the second strongest mortal wizard in the setting and typically serving as a wise, inscrutable Big Good (well, Big Neutral, but whatever). There's also his buddies, notably Bigby, Tenser, Otiluke, his former friend, Rary, the last generation's big archmage, Zagyg, and the Bigger Bad and strongest mortal wizard, Iggwilv the Witch-Queen. Bar Robilar, pretty much every epic-level mortal in Greyhawk is a wizard of some stripe.

The New World of Darkness portrays being an archmage in Mage: The Awakening as a desire for any specialist of a specific arcanum, the title meaning one has reached the height of excellence within that field. To be an archmage within more than one arcanum is the stuff of legends.

Like in the Ascension example listed below, an archmage is one who's transcended the 5-dot limit in a particular Arcanum and become capable of godlike feats. However, each side has their own archmages (be they Oracles or Exarchs) who really aren't happy with a force of cosmic destruction on the other guy's side. Hence, both the Pentacle Mages and the Seers of the Throne are sworn to an ancient pact that prevents each side's archmages from exerting direct influence upon the world. The pact says nothing about indirect influence, however...Also, it doesn't apply to rewriting the universe from the Supernal Realms.

In the Old World of Darkness game Mage: The Ascension, Archmage refers to a mage who mastered a sphere of magic to the point of surpassing the 5 dot limit. Though in the same region of power there are also Exemplars who were archmages but became focused on one sphere to the point where they started becoming extensions of that sphere, Gods who put aside regular magery and instead became powerful spirits manifesting various concepts, and the rare Oracles who actually succeeded at following the path of personal ascension to its end, then at the last moment chose to turn back and help the rest of the universe ascend instead of just ascending themselves.

Kairos Fateweaver from Warhammer, Warhammer: Age of Sigmar and Warhammer 40,000 is amongst the most powerful of all magically gifted daemons Tzeentch the Chaos God of magic, and his rules make him one of the most powerful and versatile spellcasters in all three game systems.

The term is used specifically to refer to the most powerful High Elf mages but other races have a similar rank, such as Wizard Lord, that fulfil the same role.

The Slann spend most of their time in contemplation of the heavens and the nature of magic, tweaking things to stay on the Old Ones' plannote and by 'tweaking' things, they mean things like permanent weather patterns or tectonic plate movements, and are probably the most powerful wizards in the game.

In Warhammer: Age of Sigmar, the nine Gaunt Summoners are some of the most powerful followers of Tzeentch, the God of Magic, and are the most accomplished magic uses in all the Mortal Realms, able to easily summon daemons from the Realm of Chaos or burn their enemies to ashes with infernal flame.

Many people in the Warhammer 40,000 universe believe that Varro Tigurius, Chief Librarian of the Ultramarines Chapter of Adeptus Astartes, is the strongest psyker within the Imperium, his power only surpassed by the Emperor himself. Whether this is the case or not, the current Chief Librarian is certainly the most powerful psyker to hold position since the Chapter's founding.

Geaticus the Chaldean from GURPS: Fantasy is an archmage with no magical abilities at all. Instead he has become so familiar with magic that he can track down places where anyone can cast spells and then wait until the astrological signs enhance the right sort of magic.

Exalted has the various tiers of Sorcery, but only Solars and Infernals can learn the upper limits of Solar Circle Sorcery. In history, the two most likely to be recognized as archmages are Brigid (who first discovered the secrets of Sorcery) and Salina (who created a secret working that effectively rewrote the source code of Creation so that anyone, not just a Solar, could initiate themselves into at least the first circle).

Brigid holds the place of honour as the Mother of Sorcery, but later on Devon, Salina and Silur would found the three principal methods of learning, studying and practising sorcery - naturally, all of them were Solars. In the Age of Sorrows, the most well-known Sorcerers would be the missing Dragonblooded Empress and her daughter Mnemon, but the most powerful would most likely be the Lunar Raksi, Queen of Fangs, who rules over the ruin-city of Mahalanka - formerly known as Sperimin, the greatest seat of sorcerous learning in all of Creation.

In the Champions roleplaying setting, often described as "Silver Age Marvel with the serial numbers filed off (not that that's a bad thing)", the Archmage functions much like Marvel's sorcerer supreme. However, the position of Archmage has been vacant since The Tunguska Event, which killed the last one (yes, it was deliberate), and the subculture of wizardry is a little paranoid, keeping a sharp eye out for anyone who fulfills even one of the requirements for Archmagery. This has arguably not been to the planet's benefit, as the Archmage is intended to be the online line of defense against magical threat the planet needs.

13th Age has the Archmage as one of its Icons - a major player in the defence of the Dragon Empire, who has among other things set up protective wards around the Empire to detect powerful threats. His chief problem is that all the tasks he's assumed responsibility for have him badly overworked, forcing him to get adventurers to solve certain issues for him.

Video Games

In Warcraft III, the Archmage is a hero type of the Human race. It is a title given to the most powerful members of the Kirin Tor, the ruling body of wizards (as compared to the elven sorceresses, a standard support casting unit) that run the nation of Dalaran's Magocracy. So magically powerful, they cause friendly units, not just themselves, to regenerate mana faster from being nearby. The most well-known of these include Antonidas (a veteran of the Second War) and his apprentice Jaina.

There's also [Mal]furion Stormrage, the Archdruid of the Night Elves. Although arcane and nature magic are two very different things in the universe, this is functionally the same thing.

Medivh and the other Guardians of Tirisfal were the most powerful mages Azeroth had ever known. Each Guardian (except Medivh, who instead inherited the power of Tirisfal from his mother Aegwynn the previous Guardian) was chosen by a council of archmages who would imbue the chosen champion with a portion of their own power.

Kel'thuzad started out as an Archmage within the ruling body of Dalaran's magocracy.. before he started experimenting with Necromancy. He was expelled for perverting the natural order, stripped of his rank, and contacted by TheLichKing to spread a plague which would spread undeath to anyone who died from it. Kel'thuzad didn't really have a choice, note The Lich King's words to him were plain and simple: "As my lieutenant, you will gain knowledge and magic to surpass your most ambitious dreams. But in return, living or dead, you will serve me for the rest of your days. If you betray me, I shall make you into one of my mindless ones, and you will serve me still." but once he accepted the offer it did not take him long before he was slain, reanimated as a Lich, and became the primary agent of Necromancy in all its horror within the Warcraft universe - The Lich King might surpass him in necromantic power, but there's absolutely no doubt that it's Kel'thuzad the Archlich who continues to push the study of Necromancy well beyond the Moral Event Horizon.

As the expansions go on, player character Mages essentially become this in all but name. Legion finally made it official with the class hall's final quest giving the title proper.

If you can use true magic in the BlazBlue world, you're already one of the Super Power Lottery's biggest winners, but among the witches and mages that make up the Magic City of Ishana's Mage's Guild, there are none who can compare to the Ten Sages, magic users who are so powerful, each and every one of them could have qualified as an Archmage within their own area of expertice... Keywords being: "Could have." If it hadn't been for Konoe "Nine" Ayatsuki Mercury, the single most powerful witch in the world, whose sinister plan in the fourth game was to create a new capital-G God in order to force a "happily ever after" for herself and her little sister exclusively. Other spells in her arsenal include one that summons a localized black hole that she uses for alchemically smeltingArtifacts of Doom, another that allows the one the spell is cast upon to observe the entire spacetime continuum (Alternate Timelines included) and a third spell that can only be described as "Armageddon."

In the computer game Dungeon Siege, The Archmage is a being of unparalleled magical power, using his abilities to survive for thousands of years. He's also The Dragon.

Arch-Mage is the title given to the head of the MagesGuild (or regional equivalent organization) throughout the series. The Arch-Mage rules among the Mages Guild through councils and designating positions to his inferiors. In most of the games, with enough work you can make it to the rank of Arch-Mage. To note:

This is the case for both Daggerfall and Morrowind. Daggerfall is vague about what actual authority you have (Arch-Mage is only explicitly mentioned as a title you are granted by the regional leaders of the Guild). In Morrowind, the Arch-Mage is the regional head of the Mages Guild, with there implied to be superiors in the Imperial City who manage overall Guild affairs. These are also the only two cases where the Arch-Mage has any real certainty of actually being at the pinnacle of magical power, as these games have skill requirements to advance to the position. This means that the Arch-Mage has to be highly skilled in at least one school of magic to advance to that level. In Morrowind, the Guild is run by incompetent moron Trebonius (incompetent, that is, at being a leader. He is a genuinely powerful battlemage). He was given this position by the mainland guild leaders as a combination of Kicked Upstairs and Reassigned to Antarctica. The dialogue and letter involved in peacefully taking over suggests that as far as Morrowind is concerned, Arch-Mage may technically be a title rather than a position — Trebonius is also referred to as Guildmaster, and explicitly gets to keep the title of Arch-Mage after stepping down from leadership.

In Oblivion, the Arch-Mage is stated to be head of the entire Guild throughout Tamriel. Due to the removal of skill requirements, it is possible for someone barely capable of wielding magic to become Arch-Mage simply by completing the related quests. Hannibal Traven holds the position at the start of the game, and fractured the Guild prior to the events of the game by outlawing necromancy which had previously been tolerated (within the limits of local laws) by the Guild.

By Skyrim, the Mages Guild has dissolved, but they have a local equivalent in the College of Winterhold. Like Oblivion, the lack of skill requirements makes it is possible for a magically inept Player Character to advance to the position by completing the associated quests. The aloof Savos Aren holds the title at the start of the game, preferring a laissez faire approach to College leadership.

Magnus, the God of Magic who served as the architect for Mundus, the mortal plane, but abandoned it part way through creation, is sometimes referred to as "The Arch-Mage" as part of his divine title. He is highly regarded by several Witch Species, including the Altmer and Bretons.

The Archmagister of the Dunmeri Great HouseTelvanni is the leader of an organization that believes Might Makes Right and is heavily partisan to magical might. Gothren is the Archmagister in Morrowind, and you'll need to kill him if you want his title. Come Skyrim's Dragonborn expansion, it's unclear who the Archmagister of House Telvanni is, but Master Neloth is certainly the most powerful mage in Solstheim, and, if he is to be believed, one of the most powerful in all of Tamriel.

In Magicka 2, a prophecy says that the energy of wizards destroyed during the Wizard Wars will accumulate in a single child, bound to become master of magic unless destroyed by an evil presence aware of it. The game initially involves the Wizards trying to find that child and save it. For reasons that make more sense in context, eventually they switch to trying to stop the child, which is shown to indeed become an archmage.

In Nox, Archmage Horvath is the most powerful wizard of the Castle of Galava (and thus, in the entire land of Nox). Unfortunately, depending on the story route, he either serves as the Dead Mentor or a Sacrificial Lion, or doesn't appear at all (presumably for balancing reasons).

Neverwinter Nights references Khelben "Blackstaff" Arunsun, a canon Forgotten Realms character and Archmage of Waterdeep; Master Drogan in Shadows of Undrentide and Halaster Blackcloak in Hordes of the Underdark also qualify.

The hierarchs of the Circle of Magi, i.e. the First Enchanters and the Grand Enchanter. The First Enchanters are experienced mages who have been elected by fellow mages and their Templar watchdogs to lead the Mage Tower of a particular region. The Grand Enchanter is nominally the leader of all Circle mages of Thedas, chosen from among the First Enchanters. Although these titles are more political roles than power levels, the two aspects tend to go hand-in-hand for mages. Two First Enchanters encountered in the games are Irving of Ferelden and Orsino of Kirkwall, though the latter gained his position mostly because nobody else could stand working under Meredith (plus, he experimented with dangerous Blood Magic and actively worked with a Serial Killer in his research). The incumbent Grand Enchanter by the time of Asunder is Fiona, who is also an example, having been a Grey Warden in her youth.

The second group are the Tevinter Magisters, the ruling class of The Magocracy in the north, which implements the whole Circle of Magi system slightly differently. The most powerful mage of Tevinter is usually also its sovereign, bearing the title of the Imperial Archon. Technically, the Magisterium is merely the upper-house of the Imperial senate, and in fact for centuries after Tevinter converted to Andrastianism most Magisters were muggles. Conversation with Dorian and codex entries reveal that the Magisterium remains a very nepotistic institution and that there aren't much opportunities for social advancement for mages born in poverty, unless they're patronaged by established Magisters, so not all Magisters embody the pinnacle of the Imperium's magical and political might, explaining why the Magisters featured in the series so far were often outmatched by southern mages.

The third group are the Dalish Keepers. The most powerful mages among the nomadic Dalish elves are carefully trained to lead their people and recover their lost history. Not only are they powerful, but they command magicks that are largely unknown to both the Chantry and Tevinter. The two Keepers seen thus far are Zathrian and Marathari, both of whom could give a First Enchanter pause.

And the fourth group are, of course, the Player Characters of the MageCharacter Class. The Mage Warden from Dragon Age: Origins starts off as the star-pupil of First Enchanter Irving and is widely regarded as one of the most gifted individuals in the Circle Tower before they are recruited into the Grey Wardens. The achievement for reaching level 20 is actually titled "Archmage". The Mage Hawke from Dragon Age II, in the meantime, qualifies for the title as of the Legacy DLC, where they defeat Corypheus, an Ancient Tevinter Magister who entered the Black City and became one of the first Darkspawn, in a magical duel. In Dragon Age: Inquisition, a human mage was one of the most talented mages in the Ostwick Circle of Magi, an elven mage was the first to their clan's Keeper, and a Qunari mage trained outside of any magical tradition. Whichever one the player chooses, they end up taking on Corypheus at the height of his power.

And then there are some odd examples from among the recruitable party members. Wynne from DAO is a mere Senior Enchanter of the Circle in that game, but in the ten years between it and Asunder is granted the actual title "Archmage", which is never explicitly defined but approximates that of a First Enchanter minus being bound to a particular region—being one of the people who defeated the Archdemon and stopped the Fifth Blight definitely has its perks. Then, in Dragon Age: Inquisition, mage party member Vivienne was the First Enchanter of the Montsimmard Circle of Magi and was jockeying for the position of Grand Enchanter before the Circles rebelled across Thedas and another civil war started right in her home country, Dorian was expected to eventually take his father's place on the Magisterium, and both Velanna from Dragon Age: Origins – Awakening and Merril from Dragon Age II were both expected to be the Keepers of their respective Dalish clans. Despite a lack of political affiliations, some apostates can also be said to have this level of power, such as Morrigan, Anders, Solas, and Flemeth, though in the case of the latter two, it's more a matter of being Physical Gods.

The Elder One Corypheus, one of the Darkspawn Magisters uses a variety of magics in his schemes for godhood. Solas and Vivenne discuss this during one of their only civil conversations. Vivienne points out that he's been using demons, an elven artifact, his own knowledge as a former magister of Tevinter, Red Lyrium, and the Blight and compares him to someone drinking from multiple cups at once.

In the first game in The Bard's Tale Trilogy, an Archmage is just someone who has mastered all 7 levels of all 4 schools of magic. It's really only something referred to in the game manual, there's no title or anything in the game, and nothing special happens if you get there. The sequels make the Archmage a specific class, with their own unique spells (along with the previous ones they've learned).

Archibald Ironfist of Might and Magic and Heroes of Might and Magic ends up one by implication — Might and Magic VI reveals that he's knows some very rare magical knowledge, and VII'smanual-found backstory reveals that he's better at necromancy than a fair number of the people who actually focus on necromancy as their field of study. In terms of the actual title, several Heroes games has it as the name for the Mage creature's upgrade, Heroes IV has it as an advanced class a hero gains by specializing in any three magic skills, and Might & Magic VI and VII has it as the final class promotion for (Light-aligned) Sorcerers.

Dark Souls: Seath the Scaleless is a more draconic take on this trope, described as Grandfather of Sorcery. On the other hand there is also Witch of Izalith, mother of Pyromancy. Finally, there is Gravelord Nito, the First of the Dead and thus the first of the necromancers. The DLC adds Manus, Father of the Abyss, who is both the inventor and undisputed master of Black Magic: though he's completely feral and insane by the time of the game, his magic spells are among the most potent ever seen. Each and every one of these archmages is also a boss. Lucky you.

As far as humans go, Big Hat Logan is a traveling magician the player can meet, and if they complete his quest line he reverse engineers some of Seathe's draconic magic and uses it himself.

Dark Souls 2: Royal Sorceror Navlaan seems to fill this role: he's a master at combat magic and several of the most powerful spells in the game (encompassing the practices of Sorcery, Pyromancy, and Hexing) were all invented by him.

Master of Magic has you play as this type of character, with one leading every faction.

The name of a particular challenge game in Ancient Domains of Mystery: learn and cast every spell which is fairly simple... except for Wish, which takes more power points than even level 50 wizards gain.

In Dota 2, there are two characters who could fit this trope. The first is Invoker, who practices an ancient, long forgotten form of magic that was so cumbersome that even the most learned practitioners could only know four spells at most. Invoker knows ten, as well as many more that he learned and subsequently forgot due to their uselessness - including an immortality spell that became useless as soon as he cast it on himself.

The second is Rubick, who practices whatever magic you're using (even things that are essentially bodily functions or hitting people really hard... don't ask). He set a challenge to kill one of the ten existing Maguses (themselves essentially this trope), thereby becoming one himself. All ten came after him. Due to a combination of them thinking that Rubick's copied spells were their ally's (causing them to turn against each other) and Rubick being a badass, Rubick killed all of them and was given the title of Grand Magus.

The protagonist of Gyromancer, Rivel Arday, is a sufficiently powerful magic-user that the strategy of the opposition is to avoid him until they can harness a powerful source of magic for themselves - specifically, that of the magical forest in which the game takes place.

The Legend of Zelda: Ganon, "Great King of Evil", in virtually all his appearances. Nobody else in the series (except the gods themselves) can even hope to compare to the sheer power he wields, which is significant enough to affect entire nations at a time. Only Zelda's holy magic has any real effect on him, and even then, it never actually works unless he's already to the point of near-death to begin with. To put his power in perspective, in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, he is confronted with the full might of a legendary dark power said to have the potential to end Hyrule on its own and would probably easily serve as the Final Boss in another game... and he crushes it. Effortlessly. After being greatly weakened in battle with Link. There is a reason Ganon was selected as the holder of the Triforce of Power. The revelation in Skyward Sword that Ganon isn't so much a mortal human as an eternally reincarnating expression of the hatred of a Demon King makes his power more understandable.

Miranda Deegan from Dominic Deegan. "Archmage" in this series seems to be a title given to the most powerful mage in an entire plane of reality, and there is a council of such beings across the multiverse; the council's meeting place normalizes the size and speech of the members, so they can better communicate. Miranda's predecessor King David (who retired to pursue politics, hence the "King" title) was powerful enough to convince the rest of the council to accept him in their ranks, when in the past they had dismissed humans as not being magical enough. David is apparently still powerful enough to give even Miranda pause. The Circle Archmages initially intended Miranda to be their first human archmage, but David used subtle suggestion magic on them to take the position. When he left the role of human archmage to Miranda, David also made her to restrain her own power via a suggestion spell. Later, David's plot lead to the non-human Archmagi being possessed and killed as scapegoats, but one of them manages to publicly declare they are being controlled by David, before dying. At the end of the story, Miranda retired as archmage, leaving Milov as the new leader of the Circle, with Luna as his apprentice before she took the position years later.

Dorukan qualifies, as does Vaarsuvius' master. The former dedicated his life to creating the most powerful set of spells possible in order to guard his Gate, while the latter is implied to be much more powerful than Vaarsuvius, who's arguably the most powerful of the protagonists.

A less scholarly examples is Xykon, who, as a sorcerer, makes up for a relative lack of magical flexibility with a considerable helping of raw power. Upon becoming a lich he grew so powerful he defeated the aforementioned Dorukan in a magical duel.

In Gargoyles, the Archmage was a 10th century foe of the gargoyles who returned in modern times to lay siege to the island of Avalon. He was so mystically wise (or insane...) that he could actually speak to time-traveling incarnations of himself, hold a civil conversation, and work with them to complete their goals. Although you wouldn't know it from his first appearance.note This would be because he was originally written as a one-off villain, and series creator Greg Weisman wasn't terribly interested in him. Then David Warner turned in a remarkably sinister and badass vocal performance for him, and Weisman decided to bring the character back with a much-expanded role.

In the universe, Star Swirl the Bearded is the archetype. He lived centuries ago, but his name is still widely known, due to making many ground-breaking discoveries and inventions in the field of magic. Twilight, a student of magic herself, idolizes him, of course.

In the Season 3 finale Magical Mystery Cure, Twilight Sparkle writes her own magic, fixes a spell Star Swirl himself had failed to get right, and becomes the AlicornPrincess of Magic. It is pretty much safe to say that Twilight herself has become an Archmage.

"The Crystal Empire"'s King Sombra is a villainous example, being a DreadedOne-Man Army and an expert at various curses and traps that repeatedly stump even the Princesses.

He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (1983): Orko is the Inept Mage whose failure with magic makes him the Butt-Monkey on Eternia. However, this is only because magic on Eternia works completely differently to magic on his native Trolla. His companions are therefore stunned to learn that Trolla views Orko as one of their greatest archmages and call him "Orko the Great". When given the chance to go home, Orko has no trouble protecting Prince Adam and saving his entire planet from an evil plot by one of Skeletor's most powerful servants. Single-handed.

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